A Difficult Decision [Fictoid]

“Fill it in or no?” the foreman asked in a thick Irish brogue.

The architect rolled his eyes in agony.  “It’s the Grand Canyon,” he said.

“Fill it in or no?” repeated the foreman.

Behind them the observatory loomed against the twinkling stars.  The architect wondered what it must feel like to throw one’s fate into the vacuum of space.

“Fill it in -- “

“I heard you the first time!” the architect snaped.  “You’re skating on thin ice, friend.”

“I’m not your friend,” said the foreman.  “Fill it in or no?”

The architect agonized.  They needed soil stability for their plan to work but what about the eagles and the wolves and the grizzly bears that lived there?

A young skater waltzed by, dancing silently to music only she could hear.  The architect felt like chasing after her, asking her what she would choose, but in a flash she was gone.

“Fill it in or no?” the foreman asked yet again.

The architect sighed, trying to cling to one last shred of dignity.

“Fill it in,” he said.

© Buzz Dixon